Influences of trapping on the operating characteristics and high-power microwave damage effect of AlGaAs/InGaAs pHEMT devices

High-power microwaves (HPM) coupled into a low-noise amplifier (LNA) through antennas pose a significant threat to the reliability of pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (pHEMT). In this paper, the effects of introducing donor and acceptor traps into GaAs/InGaAs pHEMT devices on their operating characteristics and HPM damage effect are systematically studied. Simulation results show that introducing donor traps with a concentration of 1\times 10^18 cm^-3 and an energy level of E_\rm c-0.6 eV in the substrate layer, and acceptor traps with a concentration of 1\times 10^18 cm^-3 and an energy level of E_\rm v+0.6 eV in the isolation layer, can reduce the internal peak temperature of the device by 756 K and 658 K, respectively, under HPM exposure. The physical mechanism of trapping influencing the HPM effect is mainly due to ionized traps forming positive and negative charge centers, which generate an internal electric field opposing the external field. This weakens the electric field in the barrier layer, reducing carrier accumulation from avalanche breakdown during the positive half-cycle of the HPM pulse. These results are valuable for enhancing the reliability of LNA in complex electromagnetic environments.